La Belle Dame Sans Merci
by shannon-nii
Summary: Some people just don't want to be saved. Don't try telling Sam and Dean that though. A story of vengence, redemption and family. Starts in Season 3 and will touch on events from the first 5 seasons. Contains an OC.
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

My first ever fanfiction. I own nothing. All thanks goes to CW and Eric Kripke

**Chapter One – Prologue**

"Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?"

**John Keats**

This is the story of the times I died.

That's not a typo; I had the unique and not totally welcome experience of dying more than once. Although I know now it's not quite as unique as I thought.

The first time I died I was with my family. My Dad, Mam, three sisters, my brother in law, my 3 day old niece, my granny and the dog. They came in the evening as the light was failing and the stupid dog who barks at everything and everyone started to growl. My Dad went out to whoever was coming to the door to tell them Charlie was harmless, a big softy really. They cut him down.

One by one they cut us all down.

The neighbours Jim and Kate found us the next morning. Coming to the door with presents for my sister and the baby, they only got half way up the yard when they noticed something was wrong.

Kate ran back to her house to phone for police and an ambulance while Jim ran into the house to see if he could help. It was too late. Too late for my Granny, my oldest sister, her husband and their new daughter, too late for my younger sister, they found her on the couch in her pyjama's where she was always to be found when she was home from university. It was too late for my Dad Peter and my Mam Rose, too late for my twin sister but not too late for me.

They said it was a miracle I survived. They talked about it for weeks, leaning on the counter in the local shop, whispering together outside Mass, speculating about what had happened, what I saw, who was responsible, if I remembered anything, how I alone out of 9 of us managed to survive and through it all they kept repeating that it was a miracle.

It wasn't.

It wasn't a miracle because I didn't survive, my body was there but I was as dead as the rest of my family. My heart beat but I couldn't feel it. I felt numb and empty and each day stretched before me seeming torturously long and pointless. Doctors and counsellors kept telling me that I had to try and put my grief behind me, to go on living my life. Grief? What grief? I felt no grief, I felt nothing. No grief, no sadness, no boredom, no pain. I felt empty. I died in the kitchen with my twin, stabbed in the chest only a heartbeat after she was. It wasn't my fault that the bastards that destroyed my family didn't quite finish the job and the stupid paramedics wouldn't let me go. As they were working on me on the floor of the kitchen, shouting at me and at each other, I could see my sister's hand outstretched about a foot away from me. I wanted to reach out and take it. I wanted to go with her wherever she was going but every time I reached out to her, they pulled me back, back to noise and pain and white hot agony in my chest.

A syringe entered my field of vision, blocking my view of my sister. I felt the needle in my arm and my twin's hand was gradually surrounded by an encroaching field of black fuzziness. My arms and legs felt heavy and the pain ebbed away, all except that white hot burning in my chest which had less to do with a stab wound and more to do with the fact that I knew when the blackness overtook my vision completely it would be the last time I saw my sister.

I fought it.

I lost.

I never saw them again.


	2. Chapter 2 Misdirection

**Chapter 2 – Misdirection**

"I am in that temper that if I were under water I would scarcely kick to come to the top."

**John Keats**

**5 years later**

The young women's eyes darted around nervously as she increased her pace, heels tapping out a quick nervous staccato on the concrete pavement, head turning this way and that, trying to pierce the darkness that lay between the sickly, dim glow of the street lights on this narrow street. Under her breath she cursed the local authority for not maintaining the street lights in the area; many were broken, resulting areas of deep shadow where she could just about see the pale grey pavement beneath her feet and not much else. Behind her a garbage can rattled startling her. She tried to tell herself it was a just a cat or big rat but she knew she was only kidding herself. The dim street light threw disjointed images onto the narrow dank buildings that populated this street – humanoid shapes but wildly exaggerated into grotesque monsters with over long arms and misshapen heads. They were coming.

Stifling a sob she increased her pace once more, conscious not to break into a run. That was what they wanted. They wanted to see her panic, to see her break and once she did they would be on her.

Dean was more of a late seventies through eighties kind of guy but at the moment he had a certain appreciation for the sixties or more specifically the part of the sixties that invented the mini-skirt. The current object of his attention was a group of sorority girls from the local university who seemed to have adopted the mini skirt as a uniform and were all competing to have the shortest one.

He was currently chatting up the winner who as it turns out was doing a PhD in Folklore. He was amusing himself by listening to her theories on how the existence of various rare mythical creatures could be disproved, including about ten that he had not only personally encountered but had done quite a bit to make sure that they stayed rare.

His enjoyment was further enhanced by the fact that she had just devoted a full 10 minute tirade to the "myth" of vampires when in fact there was a group of about seven of them standing not 10 feet away from her.

From the way that they angled their heads towards them Dean knew that they had heard her too. Dean knew that he would have to take this girl home tonight – just to keep her safe from this group who would undoubtedly love to teach her that vampires actually do exist – ah the perks of the job he grinned to himself.

Just as he turned to catch Sammy's eye across the bar to let him know that they may have a situation, his attention was caught by a slight young women with black hair making her way over to the group of vamps in the corner. She leaned down and whispered in the ear of the one that Dean had already clocked as the leader. The tall vampire stiffened and seemed to question the newcomer intently. Apparently satisfied with her responses he gave a quick jerk of his head and as one they rose and made for the exit. Dean's eyes narrowed – his amusement and relaxed demeanour gone as he tracked the vamps across the bar. In the corner of his eye he could see Sam hurriedly sliding his laptop into his bag and getting to his feet. Dean gave an almost imperceptible nod of his head towards the fire exit on the opposite side of the bar from the exit the vamps used. Sammy caught his meaning and changed track to move towards the rear door.

Dean made a quick excuse to his drinking partner and hurried over to Sam. He reckoned she would be safe enough now that the vamps attention was caught by something else.

Dean and Sam slipped out the exit and ran over to the where the Impala was parked across the alley.

As Dean slid in behind the wheel Sam said – "I think they headed east towards Old Town"

Dean spun the car in a tight circle as they tore off in the direction of the old quarter of the city. Sam stared intently out of the window trying to catch a glimpse of their quarry.

"You know – we haven't actually discovered if these are human killing type of vampires or the "we just want a normal life" kind. We haven't seen them do anything yet and there are no unusual missing persons reports in this area" Sam said as he continued to peer into the gloomy night.

"I know Sam, but in fairness – are we ever that lucky? Of all the vampires we've meet how many have been of the hippie, happy, let's hold hands with humanity kind?"

"True" Sam chuckled grimly. "But let's not start knocking off heads before we find out okay Dean?"

"That proof enough for you Sammy boy?"

Sammy turned to where Dean was pointing to see a young woman dash out between two buildings. She was running full tilt and throwing frantic looks over her shoulder into the alley way behind her. As Sam looked five shapes appeared in the alley way behind her and he could just make out four more on the roof tops of the buildings around them and three others including the tall vampire from the bar approach her from the other direction.

Dean gunned the engine and the muscle car jumped forward, racing towards the girl as she tripped and fell onto the wet pavement. As he slammed on the brakes causing the car to spin to face round in the other direction, broadside to the pavement, Sam reached behind him and popped the lock on the back door – swinging it open and narrowly missing the girls head as she looked up from where she was sprawled on the ground.

"Get in" Sam shouted at her as Dean revved the engine, keeping a close eye on the group surrounding them. The vampires howled as they realised that their prey was about to escape them and started sprinting towards the car.

The woman didn't hesitate but leapt forward to land across the back seat as Sam twisted to pull the door closed behind her as Dean peeled off down the street, heading for the more populated and brightly lit parts of town and away from their attackers.

Once they were safely away from the area Sam turned to look at their shivering back seat passenger as Dean watched through the rear view mirror.

"Hi" he said softly. "I'm Sam and this is my brother Dean. Are you okay, are you injured?

The girl just looked at him through wide shocked eyes and slowly looked around the car.

"What's your name?" Sammy tried again softly.

"Maeve" came the shaky reply. "What was wrong with those people? Their faces – their teeth"

Sam shot a quick glance at Dean. "Em" he hesitated. "Look, I don't want to scare you but those things were vampires. Do you know why they were chasing you?"

The girl looked incredulously at Sam

"Vampires – what are you talking about? What is the matter with you? You are crazy. I just nearly got mugged that's all. Who are you anyway? Why did you help me?"

Sam shot Dean a look. He really didn't want to upset the girl more than she already was so he just shrugged and said "we were passing".

The girl continued to look suspicious so Dean chipped in with "we saw those guys chasing you. There were twelve of them and at this hour of the night, in this part of town we didn't think they wanted to give you a hug".

Sam asked her gently "did they say anything to you? Did they say why they were chasing you?"

The girl continued to look suspiciously from Sam to Dean. "No they weren't real chatty, they just said something about being hungry which I took to mean that they were after money."

Sam felt slightly relieved that there seemed to be no ulterior motive to this attack other than the normal food one. Still though, something wasn't quite right about this whole thing. He was distracted from his thoughts by Dean asking the girl where she lived so they could drop her off.

"Across town – 53rd and Lexington."

The rest of the journey passed in silence – Sam trying to figure out what exactly was bothering him about this evening, Dean singing along softly with the radio and the girl – Maeve – staring suspiciously from one to the other.

Sam was momentarily struck by how strange it was that Dean was singing with a stranger in the car. He only usually did it either alone or when Sam was there, in fact come to think of it he didn't do it with John either. Sam realised that Dean was picking up on exactly how freaked this girl was and was trying in his own way to calm the atmosphere in the car.

Casting a look over his shoulder and smiling reassuringly at the young woman under the pretext of asking her if she was warm enough, Sam realised just how tense the girl was. She was sitting ram rod straight on the edge of the seat, twisting her fingers together, eyes continuously darting from left to right as she took in the route Dean was taking back to her apartment.

Sam was slightly confused by her nervousness; normally the people they rescued from whatever creature they were hunting were so relived to be safe that they became almost chatty and overly familiar with them. Sam was also aware of the effect his brother had on people. Dean emitted waves of reassurance – it just took one look at Dean with his game face on, that face that said - I am totally in control, I know what to do, you can trust me, I will save you or die trying – and people were calmed. Hell even Sam was reassured by that look and had been since he was a kid.

However Dean's reassurance mojo was appearing to have zero effect on this girl hence the singing. Dean had picked up on the girls mistrust and nervousness and was trying in his own way to reassure her that everything was going to be alright. Sam smiled to himself, for all his bluntness and insistence on no touchy feely crap; Dean was trying his best to put this girl at ease.

The traffic was light as they made their way across town to the more affluent, better lit part of the city. The girl had unwound a little, and although she kept up her watchful vigilance she had at least relaxed enough to rest against the soft old leather of the impala's back seat. As a result, Sam and Dean were totally taken by surprise when, as they slowed for a red light, the girl leapt for the door of the Impala, wrenched it open and dashed from the car down a nearby alleyway.

"Maeve" Sam called as he threw open his own door and made to chase after her.

"Let her go man" Dean said as he grabbed Sam's arm tugging him back down into the Impala. "We are at least 5 miles from where we picked her up and only a block from 53rd and Lexington. She'll be fine. They are not going to chase her all the way into this part of town just for food."

"Yeah – I guess you are right Dean but something about this doesn't add up. Why were 12 vamps hunting her? Usually they hunt in much smaller groups and you saw what happened at the bar. They all left when that small vamp with the dark hair reported in. It's almost like they were looking for her"

"Who knows Sammy? We don't really know that much about vampires. We've only hunted them a few times. Maybe hunting in large groups is not that unusual or maybe this particular group like to scare their victims to death. We can ask them tomorrow while we're chopping heads."

"I guess."

Maeve crouched at the entrance to the alleyway looking at the Impala as it sped off. Good – she was hoping that her nervous act coupled with them only being a block from the address she had given them would make them think that she had just been freaked by the whole night and wasn't too keen on allowing two strangers to know exactly where she was living.

To be honest she was a little spooked. She hadn't realised that the vamps were aware that she was in the city. She had obviously been spotted sometime over the last two days. As a result, she had been totally unprepared when they had found her tonight. She cursed her own foolishness. Months of planning could have all have been wasted if they had gotten her tonight before she was ready. Well lesson learned. She would have to move her plans up to tomorrow. She knew that once they were aware that she was in the city they wouldn't rest until they had found her. She paused for moment to see if she felt a thrill of fear or apprehension for her plans and then smiled humourlessly to herself, of course she didn't. If she felt anything it was relief. Soon this would be over and she could join her family and be back exactly where she was supposed to be.

Look around her carefully she back tracked a mile or two of the distance covered by the Impala moving through alleyways and trying to avoid been seen from the street. Stopping only to retrieve a rucksack from behind a dumpster she made her way to a cluster of abandoned warehouses on the edge of Old Town.

Jimmying open a window, she climbed swiftly through and dropped with a soft thud to the dusty floor of the building. Stepped carefully over the ring of salt and occult symbols drawn in chalk on the factory floor she dropped onto the ratty old sleeping back in the centre of the rings. Almost immediately she felt her eyes close, heavy with sleep. It had been a long day and she'd need all her strength for tomorrow. And so she slept, a small figure in a tiny circle of candle light surrounded by the dank encroaching darkness of the vast empty warehouse.


	3. Chapter 3 Preparation

**Chapter 3 - Preparation**

**Land and sea, weakness and decline are great separators, but death is the great divorcer for ever.**

_**John Keats**_

Dean sat on one of the rooms twin beds cleaning his guns and sharpening Sam's machete. He knew that Sam took good care of his weapons – after all he was the one who taught him but the machetes didn't get much use and for this day's work they would need a razor sharp edge.

Sam sat at the small table in the corner with two empty take out cups of coffee beside him. After Maeve had jumped out of the Impala last night they had driven back to Old Town to try and find some trace of the vamps again. Eventually they had to resort to questioning some of the people hanging around the streets, Dean try to charm a few ladies on the street corners, leaving Sam to try and talk to the runaway kids that slept rough in that part of town. As much as Dean joked about getting the ladies, he knew that Sam's natural empathy and approachable nature made him the best choice for talking to the wary and suspicious teenagers that hung around the alleys and abandoned buildings in the that part of town. Dean always found it hard to talk to those kids – especially the ones for whom a life on the streets was infinitely preferable to their home life. Their childhood with their Dad was not exactly white picket fence but they were always a team, always a family even where times were tough and they had to resort to squatting or sleeping in the Impala. Dean and Sam always had what every kid needed – an unshakeable faith that there was no monster, no problem that their Dad couldn't fix.

Although street people are always reluctant to talk to anyone asking questions, Sam eventually hit gold with a boy who couldn't be more than 14. He told Sam about an old house in a back street in Old Town that he and some other kids would sleep in a couple of times a week until the house was bought about two months ago. At first they thought that no one was staying there, the windows had been boarded up and a new sturdy fence erected around the property. Thinking that the house was still vacant they tried to get in one night to shelter from a rain storm. They had gotten over the fence when three people came out of the house; they told them to clear off and gave them a beating to make it stick. After that none of the kids would go near the place after that. By itself – the story didn't amount to much; they could be drug dealers or have some other shady, but non-supernatural reason for hiding out. Then the kid mentioned at some of his friends started disappearing in the neighbourhood, at first he thought that maybe they were going home. They were all from out of town, runaways drawn to the big city for the freedom it represented but then ending up on the street when the dream turned to a nightmare, but too many had disappeared, including a few that he knew would never go back to hellish home lives that they escaped. As more and more disappeared a superstition grew up around the house. Everyone knew someone who had heard from someone else that that where the missing kids went. It wasn't proof but it was enough for Dean and Sam to check it out. Sam gave the kid all the money he had on him a left him reluctantly. Dean knew he hated leaving the kid, he wasn't too happy about it himself but what could they do? In a few days they would have moved on and in effect they were homeless too.

Sam looked up from his laptop, "I've found a building schematic online, it was on the estate agents website from when the house was listed for sale". "I am not sure about this Dean, this is not typical vamp behaviour, they have actually bought this house and they are only taking kids that are runaways from out of town, meaning the only people likely to miss them are other runaways not likely to go to police and their missing persons reports would have been filed in their hometowns, drawing no attention here." "If this is vampires they are a hell of a lot more organised and intelligent than we've encountered before."

We haven't really seen that many vampires Sammy, maybe this is how they have managed to fly under the radar all these years."

"Well we'll find out soon" said Sam grimly as he shut down the laptop. "You about ready to go?"

"All set" said Dean as he put the machete into his holdall, standing and stretching. "Let's go".

Across town in the abandoned warehouse Maeve was making her own preparations. She had been waiting for this day a long time and she was determined that it should go as planned. She looked at the sword in her hand. It was designed to fit into a thin lightly curved sheath, reminiscent of a samurai sword but that was a much as the ugly blade in her hand resembled the honourable weapon of the samurai. On one side the blade consisted of a dull matt grey iron with an ugly pitted surface. The other side of the blade gleamed silver in the early morning night. It had a double razor sharp edge that extended from the tip of the blade to the hilt which consisted of a hard wood hand guard about two inches in diameter. Maeve finished sharpening the blade and slid it home in its sheath. Standing up, she shoved it down the back of her jacket and through the loop sewn for that reason into her jeans, not the most comfortable of hiding places but it would serve. She rooting through her rucksack and took out a crumpled, tatty photograph, looked at it for a long moment and then placed it carefully in her pocket. Ignoring the rest of her belongings, she wouldn't need them anymore, stepped out of the warehouse and started walking towards Old Town.


	4. Chapter 4 Convergence

**Chapter 4 – Convergence**

_I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for religion - I have shuddered at it. I shudder no more - I could be martyred for my religion - Love is my religion - I could die for that. _

_**John Keats**_

"Sammy! Look out." Dean yelled as he countered a blow from the snarling vampire in front of him and looked around desperately for a way out or at least a place where they could put their backs against a wall and fight their way out. The kids tip had been good; Dean had burst through the front door, Sam coming through the back simultaneously. They had hoped to catch the vampires napping and gain the advantage of surprise. Well they'd certainly surprised them but unfortunately there were a few more than they'd bargained on. There were at least 15 vampires that Dean could count, of course there were only 8 now but his arms were shaking with effort and he and Sam had gotten separated. He could here swearing and crashing sounds coming from the kitchen which he hoped meant that Sam was still alive and kicking. The vampire in front of him sneaked under his guard and the short knife blade his hand buried itself in the meat of his shoulder, driving him to his knees. He fell, his machete dropping from his useless hand. He looked up, expecting to see fangs coming for his throat. Instead he was spattered with gore and instinctively caught the head that was tumbling to the ground. The sharp movement caused pain to shoot through his whole body causing his vision to go black and fuzzy around the edges. He dropped the head in disgust and looked up, expecting to see Sam. Instead he caught a flash of red hair as the girl in front of him spun away and quickly dispatched the vampire sneaking up on her. Dean struggled to his feet, there was something very familiar about this girl but he couldn't see her face. He didn't much care right now who she was as long as she kept that sword away from him and focused on the vampires. The vampires were focused on her now giving him time to catch his breath and assess the damage to his shoulder. He didn't think it was too bad but it was definitely going to need stitches. Just then Sam came flying through the kitchen door on his back and crashed painfully into the wall opposite. "Sammy!" Dean cried, his heart thumping with fear. Sam groaned and tried to rise. Dean, snatched up his machete, ran to him and tried to pull him to his feet. Sam staggered but managed to get to his feet just as the vampire who threw him came barrelling from the kitchen. Dean pivoted and brought his machete round in a sweeping arc. He wasn't as accurate with his left hand but the vampire did all the work for him, his momentum carrying right onto the blade. It wasn't a clear cut though and Dean grimaced, put his foot on the body as leverage, and pulled his blade from the meat, then chopping down again to completely sever the head. He looked around and was amazed to see there was only one vampire left in the room. The girl had killed the rest in the few minutes his attention had been taken up by Sammy's dramatic entrance.

"Enough!" The cry went throughout the blood and gore spattered room. It rang with enough authority to make even Dean pause. A man was coming down the stairs. He looked about 45 with a salt and pepper beard and large, commanding brown eyes. He was wearing jeans and cowboy boots that rang on each step as he came down the stairs. "Enough. You want me here I am". He spoke more quietly now. Dean opened his mouth to say he didn't know who the fuck he was when he realised he was speaking to the girl alone. The girl turned slowly to look at the man on the stairs, almost casually stabbing the remaining vampire through the throat as she did so.

"Oops, butterfingers" the girl smiled mockingly as she looked at the man on the stairs. "Hello William".

"Hello my dear, I am sorry – I never bother to find out your name, I just called you That Irish Bitch. Quite apt don't you think since you have been following me faithfully wherever I go?" The girls eyes narrowed, "I'll teach you my name and the names of a few others before I kill you, I'll make sure you go with their names on your lips so that when you get to hell they'll know exactly why I sent you."

"I see you finally got a few men to come and do your dirty work for you. You were never this brave on your own".

The girl look around, scowling at Dean and Sam as if seeing them for the first time. Dean heard Sam breathe softly "Maeve?" It dawned on Dean where he recognised the girl from. It was Maeve the girl they saved from vampires last night. He was pretty sure she didn't have red hair then though. He would have remembered. Even splattered with blood and damp with sweat, it glowed softly in the light, the colour of warm copper. It fell thick and curly well below her shoulders making the rather ordinary looking girl beautiful.

"I don't know or care who they are. I came looking for you." Maeve spat turning her attention once more to the stairs. I'll deal with them after I have added your head to my tally."

"You have been quite the little thorn in my side these last few years, I have to constantly keep replacing the clan members you kill, it gets tiresome after a while, having all these new bloodthirsty children around. They have yet to learn finesse; I have to keep cleaning up after their little indiscretions. Your family wasn't nearly tasty enough to make up for all this bother you've put me too. Mind you, I do so love infants, especially when the squirm" Maeve screamed and darted forward - suddenly he was in front of her, back handing her across the face. She reeled away from him but managed to keep the point of sword up and between them as he circled her. They came together in a flurry of blows, William keeping in close to Maeve, stopping her from swing the sword. Instead she used the blade as a shield returning blows with her right hand.

She was good but Dean could see she wasn't as fast or as strong as the bigger, heavier vampire and she was slowly losing ground. He made to move forward to help her when she swung the tip of her sword around at head height, scoring a shallow cut on his forehead. "Stay back! This is my fight. Interfere and I will kill you when I have finished with him." William took advantage of her distraction to slam into her, sending her crashing into a bookcase. "Tell me bitch, was that your entire family I ate or do you still have a few cousins dotted around that I could visit?"

Maeve struggled to her feet, at first Dean thought she was crying but then realised she was laughing. She stood straight, wiped the blood from a cut on her forehead from her eyes and laughed out loud. "Nope, that was all of them everybody I ever loved and I got left behind. But when I am finished with you, I'll see them again." With that she bulled forward, using the room William had unwittingly given her to swing her blade making him back up towards the stairs. Having gained a few seconds, she pulled a flask from her coat pocket and tossed the liquid inside around the room, making the majority went over William. Dean recoiled from the smell of petrol, turning to shield Sam from the spray.

"One way or another you bastard, you will never kill again." Maeve said grimly pulling a lighter from her pocket. William tried to turn, run back up the stairs. She dropped the lighter and was on him in a flash, her sword pining him through his arm to the wall behind. The lighter caught and flames rose, licking hungrily at the desiccated floorboards. William snarled, by no means beaten and grabbed Maeve around the throat, pulling her close, throttling her, the two enemies locked together in a deadly embrace. Making a huge effort, she turned her head to look at Sam and Dean. "Run you eejits." She managed to croak. Sam made to run through the flames to help her but Dean pulled him back. "We have to go Sam!" Dean began to pull Sam away from the flames towards to back door. "We're covered in petrol; we have to get out of here".

Dean pulled Sam out the back door, turning one last time. It was difficult to see through the smoke and the heat haze but he could just make out Maeve's face, her eyes were closed but she was smiling.


	5. Chapter 5 Helping Hand

In honour of my first follow – a new chapter J. Thank you I am honoured.

**Chapter 5 – Helping Hand**

"Darkling I listen; and, for many a time  
I have been half in love with easeful Death,  
Call'd him soft names in many a musèd rhyme,  
To take into the air my quiet breath;  
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,  
To cease upon the midnight with no pain, While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad  
In such an ecstasy!"

**John Keats **

"Dean! Stop! Dean!" Sam wrestled, trying to break Dean's grip on his jacket. " We can't let her burn, she's human, Dean! She is human!"

Dean gripped Sam's jacket tighter, stopping him from running back through the backdoor of the house. "Sam we can't! We are covered in petrol. There is _nothing_ we can do."

"I have to try Dean, PLEASE!" With that Sam broke Dean's grip and pushed him away. Backing towards the open door, he looked sorrowfully at his brother. "I have to try." Dean closed his eyes for a moment as if asking for grace and whispered "Be quick Sam" as his brother ran into the house.

Standing outside in the strong midday sun, every second felt like a lifetime for Dean. He had to let Sam try. Ever since Madison, it felt like Sam took every death personally, taking ever stupider risks to try and save them. Dean ground his teeth in frustration. He couldn't follow, he couldn't help. He was literally covered head to toe in petrol. When that girl – Maeve? starting tossing it around he'd instinctively covered Sam's body with his own, although some of it had landed on the stupid sasquatch.

Dean got as close to the backdoor as he dared, coughing now as thick black smoke rolled out. "Sam! SAMMY!" His heart pounded in his ears, so loud that for a moment he missed the sound he was straining to hear. There! Coughing, he could hear coughing. "Fuck this" Dean thought as he rushed through the door, he couldn't let Sam choke to death within earshot of rescue. He groped along the wall trying to orientate himself towards the sitting room, following the sound of coughing that he could hardly hear over the roar of fire and his own laboured breathing. Through a swirl of smoke he saw a bulky shape move towards him. It took him a moment to realise it was Sam with the girl thrown over his shoulder. Sam was staggering, under her weight and from smoke inhalation. Dean grabbed his out stretched hand and dragged him back towards where he was hoping like hell the door was.

They burst out into the sunshine, gasping and choking. Sam fell to his knees, the girl on his shoulder hit the ground with a thump and lay crumpled on the ground not moving.

Dean tried to get his breathing under control as he looked Sam over. He had black track marks around his mouth and leading to both nostrils - smoke inhalation definitely, but he was still conscious which was a good sign. He had a nasty looking burn on his hand but other than that he looked okay. They had certainly survived worse.

Only when he was satisfied that Sam was okay did he turn his attention to the girl on the ground. Her once beautiful hair was singed and burned with only a few inches left on her right side. Her face, shoulder and arm were badly burned and her throat was bruised from where the vampire tried to throttle her. Dean could make out individual finger marks wrapping her throat to just under her left ear. Dean was sure there were other injuries that he couldn't see, under her clothes. Her face was pale and still, he didn't hold out much hope as he bent over her, looking for a heartbeat. There! It was there, thready and weak but definitely there. "We have to get her to hospital, those burns need to be cleaned and dressed before infection sets in." Sam had struggled to his feet and joined Dean looking over Maeve's damaged body.

They stooped to grab her shoulders and legs to carry her to the Impala. They both jumped as Maeve gave out a sudden groan and tried to roll over to get to her feet. She coughed, deep and painfully. "Why?" she choked out, her voice rough and coarse from smoke and strangulation. "Why did you do that. WHY?!" The last desperate question causing her to cough again driving her to her knees. Sam rushed to support her as she tried to rise again. "It's okay, you are safe now. We'll get you to hospital. You'll be okay."

Maeve shook his hand off roughly. "Okay? Okay?" She laughed painfully, turning fierce eyes to Sam. "I was okay until you interfered. Why couldn't you just leave me there. It was what I wanted." She staggered to her feet, grabbing her sword as she rose. Dean hadn't even realised she was still gripping it as Sam pulled her from the building. She made to run back into the inferno. Dean tackled her, bringing them both crashing to the ground. She struggled against him, aggravating the stab wound in his shoulder, making him bite back a curse. "Hey" he grunted shaking her. "Knock it off. Knock it off! My brother didn't risk his life to save you for you to throw it away again."

"Let me go". She struggled weakly in his arms. "Please." Her voice broke, "I want to go, I want to be with them again." And then she went limp in his arms, turned dead and desolate eyes on him and began to weep. "Please".

Dean glance in the rear view mirror that the girl huddled on the back seat. "We need to get her to a hospital Sam" he said softly to his brother. He needed to stop somewhere too to patch himself up. The wound in his shoulder was bleeding sluggishly, and his whole arm was throbbing. After they stopped Maeve from running back into the burning house, all the fight seemed to go out of her. She had lay crumpled on the ground with Dean half crouched over her, not sure how to help and half expecting her to bolt again. But she just lay there almost catatonic, every now and then a tear rolled down her cheek, leaving tracks in the soot. Once they were sure that she wasn't likely to bolt again, they helped her into the back of the Impala and drove away from the burning house, keen to put some distance between themselves and whatever police and fire crews that must surely be on their way.

"No hospitals" Maeve's husky, damaged voice was low but insistent. Dean hadn't realised that she could hear them. He opened his mouth to argue but she cut him off. " No really, no hospitals. I am not trying to be difficult but hospitals ask too many questions and well …" she paused looking from Sam to Dean as if trying to decide if she should continue. She shrugged to herself and continued. "I am illegal, I don't have a visa. I'll be deported". Sam looked to Dean, that was a problem. Maeve struggled to sit up. "I'll be fine, really. You can just leave me here. They are all dead. They won't be coming after me again."

Sam twisted to look at her in the back seat. "Why were they after you?" Maeve just looked at him silently. Sam tried a slightly different tack. "Those burns on your face and arms are bad. They need to treated before they get infected. As it is, you are probably going to need plastic surgery for the scarring." Maeve just shrugged again and Sam got the impression that she really didn't care.

"We have to do something, we can't just leave you. Is there someone who can look after you? Friends or …" His voice trailed off, remembering what that vampire had said about her family.

Maeve just shook her head and refused to meet his eyes.

Dean cleared his throat "Well hospital's out, I guess that leaves us with only one option."

Sam looked at his brother, "Bobby?"

"Bobby".


End file.
